Defining Freedom From a Post-Menopausal Perspective

I found Pamela Warrick's article about menopause and estrogen replacement ("Feminists Face Off in War Over Menopause," Aug. 9) both ridiculous and harmful to the many women who are undecided about the safety of estrogen replacement therapy.

I grew up believing that "hot flashes" were a figment of a woman's imagination and that as a modern woman I was above such things--that is, until I started experiencing them.

Every year tens of thousands of women's lives are made more productive through estrogen therapy. I don't see "keeping a stiff upper lip" and suffering the discomfort of hot flashes and depression, loss of enjoyment in sex, losing bone mass and increased risk of broken or painful bones, increased risk of heart attack, and a slowing of my intellectual ability as a means of fighting a feminist battle.

If "free" women have to go into battle hunched over, on crutches, with weak hearts or reduced mental powers, give me bondage any day.

SUZANNE SALIMBENE

Hawthorne

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I am living, "vigorously striding" proof that Dr. Robert A. Wilson is wrong when he says, "It is not unusual to see an erect man of 75 vigorously striding along on a golf course, but never a woman of this age."

Not only do I "vigorously stride" three miles every morning and play nine holes of golf sans cart every week, but I have seven years on Dr. Wilson's erect man of 75.

And I went through menopause without a hitch or hot flash and with no pills or estrogen intake. So take back your words, Dr. Wilson.